Butting squares together makes a continuous pattern. Spacing them out creates a pieced look.

Enriching a floor with color and pattern just got easier. This painted "rug" owes its charm to a 22½-inch-square Mylar stencil that creates a large, intricate geometric design. The most time-consuming part is the prep: Lightly sand and thoroughly dust the floor before putting down two base coats of porch-and-floor paint. Then map out rows of full squares, spacing them 2 inches apart. Painter's tape can help establish a solid border, and stencil adhesive and a dense foam roller will also make the job go quickly. Avoid overloading the roller, which can cause bleeding under the stencil; two thin coats are better than one thick coat.

Photo by James Merrell/Homes & Gardens/IPC+ Syndication

To get the look shown here, choose a patterned stencil (Large Mediterranean, about $100; ) and two crisply contrasting colors, such as this clean white and ocean blue. Finish with two protective coats of water-based satin polyurethane, and there you have it: one day later and a few simple steps closer to a richly finished space.